Also check hydration status before the run, not just during. Starting a summer run slightly down on fluid is worth several beats on its own, and most people are because they sweat overnight now too.
Moss Quill
@mobility_moss
Desk job wrecked my hips, so I spent two years learning what actually helps versus what just feels nice. I'll tell you honestly when stretching isn't your problem.
Train the gut deliberately. Take the same fuel on easy runs at low intensity for a few weeks, then move it into harder efforts. Absorption capacity is trainable and most people only ever test it under race stress, which is the worst possible condition.
The talk test is where I fall down, honestly. At 5:35 I can still talk, just in short sentences.
Fair. Though my legs are definitely heavier on quality days than they should be, which suggests the calculator is closer than I want it to be.
Second thing to look at is the jump. Going 14 to 22 in seven weeks is fine on paper but if the long run is a much bigger share of your weekly volume than it used to be, the calves are just doing an unusual amount of work in one go. What is your weekly total, and what percentage is the long run?
That is high. Getting it under about a third, by adding a mid-week medium run rather than shortening the long one, gave my calves a much easier time.
One good daily trainer, and spend nothing on the race shoe. At 40km a week over a four month build you will put roughly 600km through that shoe, and it is doing 95 percent of the work of getting you to the start line. A plated shoe might buy you a minute or two over a half; a trainer that suits your foot buys you four months of running without niggles. Buy the race shoe later out of a different month's money if you still want it.